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Wow...there's a lot of passion out there for these boats...love and hate! Does anyone have experience of sailing McGregor 26's on the Mediterranean? We are thinking of sailing in the summer months as we live by the Mediterranean. I need an affordable, trailerable family boat for coastal island sailing.

Any thoughts would be great.

Gracias!

I had a MacGregor 25'. It was an actual sailboat, not a power/sail hybrid. It is trailerable due to the swing keel, had 1'10" draft with the keel up.

10-13-2016 04:42 PM

Killter

Mediterranean and McGregor?

Wow...there's a lot of passion out there for these boats...love and hate! Does anyone have experience of sailing McGregor 26's on the Mediterranean? We are thinking of sailing in the summer months as we live by the Mediterranean. I need an affordable, trailerable family boat for coastal island sailing.

Any thoughts would be great.

Gracias!

10-13-2016 04:37 PM

Killter

Mediterranean and McGregor?

07-29-2016 02:34 AM

vixmith

Re: Why all the fuss about mcgregor 26's

Thanx for the great review.

V G Smith, PE

04-23-2016 06:43 PM

Badmantis

Re: Why all the fuss about mcgregor 26's

I never did well in English class....

04-12-2016 01:21 PM

Mr. Bubs

Re: Why all the fuss about mcgregor 26's

If you're heeled over 50º then I'd say you've got those sails sheeted in way too tight.

Also, next time use more punctuation and some breaks. That was excruciatingly painful to read.

04-11-2016 04:22 PM

Badmantis

Re: Why all the fuss about mcgregor 26's

Cruising the net for some Macgregor 26m mods I came across these posts,of course I've got to add my two cents. The 26m is absolutely great.... For us.

We had never sailed a boat before as we live in land locked Alberta. We got the sailing bug after a trip in Australia on a 80 ft boat heeled at 30 degrees and plowing thru the biggest waves we had ever seen. Sitting close to the bow as it lifted and dropped 15 ft on each wave . With 28 people sitting along the rail I gotta say I've never seen so much puke in my life.

Anyhow after a ton of research we bought the mac 26m . It's large interior with marine head,fridge and sink (our is modded) made for what is a comfortable living space for a couple weeks at a time. We put it on the water but never knew how to put up the sails. A couple Aussie freinds of ours stopped by and showed us the basics then took us for a sail. At first in light winds the boat cruised along just fine and I was worried cause after two hours I was getting bored already. Then the wind got ALOT stronger and within another 20 mins the boat was heeled over at 45 degrees , my wife and I were white knuckled holding on. To us THIS was fun sailing ! and the Aussies who refused to reef the sails we're giggling like school girls.

We cruised along at 12 kmph . Since then we have learned how to sail ourselves , we have sailed also in the BVI'S on a 36ft and 45ft . So here's my point of view on our little macgregor... It is tender until about 50 degrees or till the sails touch the water ! Learn how to properly reef the sails and watch the weather so if your scared to heel then u don't have to. It is not as fast as the other "pure" sailing vessels on our lake when sailing in wind.

Different story when I fire up the 90 horse power outboard. We don't pay slip fees. We trailer to any lake we want to go to in Canada or the USA. The boat trailers very well (we have dual axle trailer and consider this a must , don't buy one without unless you trailer close to home) it takes about 45 mins to have boat In the water and sailing. We only need 2.5 feet of water to launch. This boat is great for recreational sailors who are not interested in racing. Is safe for the ocean for coastal or bay cruising but does not have the safety a non trailerable boat does, just to light.

We come from a extreme sports back ground (ice/rock climbing/white water rafting) so for us we like how we need to be on our toes when sailing in higher winds , it's a thrill. We didn't want a boat that would be so rock solid under us that we didn't notice a 10kmhr wind speed change , that's just boring. We like it even more when a purist sailor comes aboard and starts screaming in fear when the boat hits the 45 degree mark in decent amounts of wind. We like pulling our freinds kids on knee boards or wake boards behind the boat as well.

Over all this boat was never built to be a great open water sailor with speed, for that buy the Macgregor Anthem 70. It was built to have fun and enjoy life.As for quality of build I say it's OK. Nothing's broke yet and we have put it thru some serious abuse. Hitting 4 foot waves at 30km an hour for a hour straight I see no issues after. Main thing is buy a gauge and tighten the rigging properly so it doesn't shock load. The Mac's see far more abuse than most other boats because they do have a large outboard . Lots of haters out there will bash the Macgregors but I don't care because I think I enjoy my boat as much or more than they do. Cheers and happy sailing.

I ended up getting a Mac 25 at a price I couldn't pass up. Close enough for me!

Congratulations! I am extremely envious of your sailing grounds (although the Chesapeake is not too shabby either). I lived on Whidbey Island for a while but never did any sailing there. I hope you have a blast.

It's a really great and quick sailor without any of the compromises of the hybrids.

I ended up getting a Mac 25 at a price I couldn't pass up. Close enough for me!

09-29-2015 05:20 PM

globalhobo

Thanks for your input! I got into the McGregor forum and someone posted a pic for me. It looks way cleaner than the one we're looking at but another guy explained his and it sounds the same. We have a San Juan 23 in Washington but it's got a swing keel.we never get up there to sail her, either, so we'll be selling in the next season.

Thanks again, guys!
Leah

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